Patient transfer mattresses include an inflatable chamber, or chambers, defined between top and bottom sheets. The bottom sheet includes a pattern of small openings creating a cushion of escaping air beneath the mattress that reduces friction between the mattress and a support surface, thereby facilitating sliding movement of the mattress. U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,873 discloses a patient transfer mattress of this type.
These transfer mattresses usually include two or more looped lifting handles secured to the sides of the mattresses, to be grasped by a nurse or other caregiver, for sliding the mattress along a support surface or for lifting the mattress from the support surface. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/143,139, published as U.S. Pub. No. 2002/0166168 on Nov. 14, 2002, discloses a patient transfer mattress having looped lifting straps respectively secured at opposite ends to the mattress adjacent the top and bottom sheets of the mattress.
Patient transfer mattresses are used to slide a patient from one support surface, such as an examining table, to a second support surface, such as a gurney. Since a pulling force is applied to slide the mattress, the typical transfer situations require that the nurse position herself with the second support surface located between her and the patient on the first surface. The nurse must then reach over the second support in order to grasp the lifting handles to pull the mattress toward her onto the second support surface. Reaching across the support surface, however, places the nurse in an awkward hunched over posture. Pulling on the handles in a hunched over posture causes spinal compression forces that may, over time, lead to serious back injury.